What is URL Blacklist and How to Fix It?

Your website is the digital face of your business. It not only serves as a medium to engage with users and generate revenues but also establishes your brand presence on the web. Hence, the security of your website is one of the most crucial aspects you must pay attention to, given the rapidly increasing cybercrimes online.

One significant challenge website owners face today is URL blacklisting. Search engines and cybersecurity authorities blacklist suspicious website URLs and IPs on security grounds to protect internet users. For example, Google blacklists around 10,000 website URLs every day that are found to be suspicious or malicious. This implies these websites are not safe for visitors to access.

In this comprehensive guide, we will dive into what exactly URL blacklisting is, how and why it happens, its impact on businesses, and most importantly, how website owners can avoid getting blacklisted and fix issues if already blacklisted.

What is URL Blacklisting?

In simple terms, URL blacklisting refers to the process where search engines like Google and other cybersecurity authorities like Norton Safe Web, McAfee SiteAdvisor, etc., remove or block access to a website URL in their respective index or database.

They take this action after finding specific websites to be potentially malicious or compromised in some form, such as:

• Phishing schemes
• Malware infections
• Spam campaigns
• Illegal content
• Compromised credentials
• Information stealing
• Unsafe plugins/codes

By blacklisting dangerous websites, search engines and cybersecurity firms prevent users from accessing them. They also notify the website owners to fix the issues. This impedes the malicious intentions of cyber attackers abusing the websites.

How Does URL Blacklisting Happen?

Search engines like Google are committed to providing a safe and secure online experience to their users. To achieve this, they invest significant resources in identifying and flagging malicious or compromised websites that might pose threats.

Since search engines never want their users landing on infected websites that could harm their computers, they blacklist and stop showing such sites in search results.

There are numerous reasons a website can get blacklisted, including:

• Phishing attacks: The website is hosting fake pages impersonating legitimate sites to steal user information.

• Malware infections: The site contains viruses, spyware, ransomware or other malicious codes designed to infect visitors‘ devices.

• Spam campaigns: The website promotes or distributes spam, unwanted ads, or content scraped from other sources.

• Illegal content: Presence of prohibited, unethical or pirated content that violates laws.

• Compromised credentials: Site‘s admin login or databases are hacked, giving attackers control.

• Information stealing: Use of keyloggers, skimmers or other tools to steal users‘ data.

• Unsafe plugins/codes: Usage of vulnerable, outdated or blacklisted plugins, themes or codes.

When search engines or cybersecurity services detect such issues on a website through automated scans or manual reviews, they immediately blacklist the site‘s URL to protect internet users.

The browsers also pitch in by displaying strong security warnings if a blacklisted site is accessed directly. For instance, if a website is found containing malware, the browser may show warnings like:

However, many website owners are unaware their site is already under attack or compromised. So how do you check if your website is blacklisted? Let‘s look at some ways.

How to Check if Your Website is Blacklisted

You can run different security checks to find out if your website is blacklisted by search engines and cybersecurity services:

• Google Safe Browsing – It lets you check issues associated with your website and if Google has blacklisted it.

• Blacklist check tools – These instantly check if your site is flagged by authorities like Google, Norton, etc.

• Monitor traffic – A sudden, unexplained drop in website traffic could indicate a blacklist warning. Check Google Analytics.

• Google Search Console – Check for any manual actions, security issues or blacklist notifications.

• Webmaster forums – People often discuss latest blacklisting incidents. You may find mentions of your own site.

By proactively monitoring these metrics, you can identify threats early and initiate remediation.

Impacts of URL Blacklisting on Businesses

Getting blacklisted can have devastating consequences for businesses – both financially and reputationally. According to Google, a blacklisted site may lose about 95% of its organic search traffic. This directly hits sales and revenue.

Even if users visit the site directly, browsers display strong warnings against accessing it. Most visitors will leave immediately and switch to rival sites.

Negative brand perception also increases if users report seeing warnings about your site‘s security. Addressing blacklisting issues should become a top priority before lasting business damage occurs.

How to Avoid Getting Blacklisted

The best way to deal with blacklisting is avoiding it completely. Here are some proactive ways to keep your website off blacklists:

Keep Everything Up-To-Date

Outdated plugins, themes and software contain vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit to compromise your site. Using the latest versions foils these attempts. Consider automatic updates or management tools like iThemes Security to patch thousands of WordPress sites rapidly.

Avoid Untrusted Extensions

Refrain from using plugins, themes and code from shady developers or cracked software from torrents. Such untrusted extensions commonly contain backdoors, spyware and malware that can get your site blacklisted. Invest in premium, reputable extensions instead.

Choose Reliable Hosting

Host your website only on secure, reputable hosting providers like SiteGround instead of underpowered or unmanaged hosts. Reliable hosting ensures your servers stay updated and prevents security lapses.

Enable Firewalls and Scanners

Invest in web application firewalls, anti-malware scanners, real-time monitoring tools, DDoS protection and other layers of security. This helps detect and block threats before blacklisting occurs.

Limit Admin Access

Be very selective in granting backend/admin access to your site. Enforce strong passwords and two-factor authentication for all admin accounts. Avoid logging in over unsecured networks. This prevents unauthorized access.

Back Up Frequently

Take regular backups of your site‘s files and databases so you can quickly restore a clean, pre-infection version if your site gets compromised. Backups limit the damage caused by cyber attacks.

Monitor Traffic and Performance

Actively monitor analytics like traffic levels, site speed, 404 errors, impressions and other metrics. Unusual changes can indicate problems. Also track security notifications from Google Search Console.

What to Do if Your Site is Blacklisted?

Despite best efforts, some websites do end up getting blacklisted by Google, Norton or other cybersecurity firms. Here are some tips to get delisted and regain access:

1. Fix the underlying issue

Determine why your site was flagged – malware, vulnerabilities, suspicious inbound links, etc. Then fully clean and fix the root cause on your website based on the notifications you received.

2. Request a review

Once your site is secured, submit reconsideration requests to the companies that blacklisted your URL. For Google, use the delisting tool. Provide details of steps taken to fix the problems.

3. Check other listings

Besides the company that notified you, check if your URL is blacklisted on other databases like SpamHaus or PhishTank. Getting delisted from one does not remove you from others automatically.

4. Disavow shady links

If your site was flagged for suspicious backlinks, identify and disavow them. Prevent link spam by updating .htaccess rules.

5. Seek expert help

If remediation seems difficult or delisting requests get rejected, don‘t lose hope. Seek help from a security professional or agency that specializes in blacklist removals and remediation.

6. Inform visitors

If your site remains blacklisted for some time, inform visitors and subscribers through emails, social posts and site notices. Apologize for issues and assure them about addressing the problems.

With systematic efforts, you can get your website removed from blacklists within days or weeks in most cases. The key is completing all necessary steps to convince search engines/cybersecurity companies that your site is now secure for users.

Powerful Security Services to Avoid Blacklisting

Manually monitoring your website‘s security and dealing with blacklisting can be tedious and time consuming. This makes investing in professional security services essential.

Specialized site security vendors continually check your site‘s health, detect threats early and resolve blacklisting in a timely manner. Here are some top services to consider:

Sucuri

Sucuri offers comprehensive website security for all CMSs and ecommerce platforms. Their malware scanners and firewall offer robust threat protection.

Sucuri immediately fixes blacklisting on major engines like Google, Bing, Norton, Yandex, PhishTank, etc. Their expertise helps resolve most security flags within days.

Astra Security

Astra is a complete security solution designed for WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento, Drupal and other leading CMS platforms.

It provides real-time protection and blocking against all web threats including malware, hacks, DDoS attacks and blackhat SEO tactics. Astra makes it easy to detect and reverse blacklisting.

SiteLock

SiteLock offers comprehensive website security suited for all small and large businesses. Their auto-fix feature does all the heavy lifting in keeping sites threat-free.

SiteLock rapidly identifies and resolves problems that get websites blacklisted. Their experts manage all aspects of detecting and reversing blacklisting across different platforms.

MalCare Security

MalCare specializes in providing all-in-one security solutions for WordPress and Woocommerce sites of all sizes.

Their advanced scanner and firewall provide complete protection against malware, hacking attempts, spam attacks and blackhat tactics that often lead to blacklisting.

Conclusion

As cyber threats become more sophisticated, URL blacklisting is a risk all websites face today. The consequences of getting blacklisted include lost revenues, damaged reputation and lower search visibility.

By implementing robust security scanners, monitoring site health diligently, and acting quickly if blacklisted, businesses can avoid or reverse blacklisting. Powerful managed security services also offer convenient, affordable solutions to handle all aspects of threat monitoring and delisting.

Proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, staying updated and having a remediation plan in place are key strategies to keep your website off blacklists in the long run.